August 14, 2023

 

Dear Colleagues,

As many have reached out, I wanted to send you all a brief update on last week’s devastating wildfires in Hawaii and in particular the impact of these fires on our member agency Jewish Community Services of Hawaii (JCS Hawaii) and our good friend and colleague, Mimi Lind, its Executive Director.  The outpouring of global support began almost immediately following the onset of the fires and JCS Hawaii has quickly been established as a central resource for those in need throughout the State of Hawaii.

To strengthen its capacity to provide critical services, JCS Hawaii has received the immediate attention of key funding partners and received an emergency funding grant of $100,000 from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.  Funds are also now being collected via the Jewish Federations of North America and a dedicated national mailbox has been established under the auspices of the JFNA Emergency Committee, a committee that allocates emergency funds collected to address disaster relief.  

As an immediate source of support, please take a moment to share with your community the above link to make donations to the JFNA Emergency Mailbox.

Additionally, we at The Network are working closely with the JFNA Emergency Committee and will be working with this Committee over the coming weeks and months to ensure that funding is allocated to address both immediate and long term needs.  Throughout, we are also in regular contact with Mimi and she wanted us to share that she very much appreciates the messages of support that she has received from her Network colleagues.  JCS Hawaii has been established as the Jewish community’s sole resource for collecting and distributing donated emergency relief supplies and also supporting impacted community members with access to emergency financial assistance and/or with assistance in completing FEMA and other applications for emergency relief.  In the coming weeks, JCS Hawaii will be hiring additional staff to address what is expected to be an increased demand for assistance and mental health trauma counseling.

We will continue to keep you all posted as developments in Hawaii continue to unfold. 

Please join me in wishing the residents of Hawaii and our colleagues at JCS Hawaii much strength as they navigate the lasting impact of this tragedy.

Thank you all for your ongoing support.

Reuben

 

Reuben D. Rotman
President & CEO
Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies